Katrina Coverage

From Auditors Find Huge Fraud in FEMA Aid:
Thousands of applicants for federal emergency relief money after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita used duplicate or invalid Social Security numbers or bogus addresses, suggesting that the $2.3 billion program was a victim of extensive fraud, a Congressional auditor will report Monday.
The examination of the so-called Expedited Assistance program […]

There's a short AP report in "Ex-FEMA Chief Blames Homeland Security", a longer one in "Brown blames Homeland for Katrina response: Ex-FEMA chief says he's a scapegoat: ‘I feel somewhat abandoned’". CNN offers "Brown says he's been made Katrina scapegoat: Ex-FEMA chief blames Homeland Security for slow response". Commentary here and here, video excerpt here.

From this:
Michael D. Brown, former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, testified today that he let senior White House staffers know as soon as he had heard that flooding had begun in New Orleans on the day Hurricane Katrina made landfall.
Mr. Brown also called claims by top officials at the Department of Homeland Security […]

According to emails and other documents recently released, no less than twenty-eight government agencies - ranging from the local level all the way up to the White House - knew that the levees had broken on August 29, the day the storm landed.
In fact, "the Bush administration" knew about the failures at 7:30 am NO […]

It appears the White House has cut him loose and have given the word that they won't defend him. And, he's asking whether he can now tell all that he knows:
Former disaster agency chief Michael Brown is indicating he is ready to reveal his correspondence with President Bush and other officials during Hurricane Katrina unless […]

From this:
Engineer Manual No. 1110-2-2502 is not a publication that would normally excite interest from the general population. But in the weeks and months ahead, as New Orleans struggles to rebuild from the floods of Hurricane Katrina, Section 4 of that Army Corps of Engineers book could be scrutinized intensely by city and state officials.
The […]

This page has pictures of the measures that various countries take to protect their coastlines from being flooded, ending with the New Orleans levee system. Point taken, but it's not exactly fair to blame the Army Corps of Engineers for fault that, once again, is shared by various levels of government as well as the […]

The Brookings Institute has an ongoing series that sounds more impressive than it turns out to be. However, here it is.

There she goes again with her conspiracies, but at least this time she's naming names:
SAN FRANCISCO — Senator Clinton told a largely friendly audience here Saturday night [1/28/06] that the slow pace of government-sponsored reconstruction following Hurricane Katrina was the result of a deliberate decision by the Bush administration and may have been motivated by […]

Has the pressure finally gotten to New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin? We already knew the answer, but for further proof:
NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Shortcomings in aid from the U.S. government are making New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin look to other nations for help in rebuilding his hurricane-damaged city.
Nagin, who has hosted a steady stream of […]